The North deserves a stand alone Crown Corportation. The South has Metrolinx and the North deserves the same type of infrastructure.
Below are the mandates for both the ONTC and Metrolinx. The ONTC mandate should have also include the same language as Metrolinx, in addition to current mandate. Also the new ONTC should have a board of directors made up of ONTC management, workers, elected community leaders and experts in the Transportation and Communication filed but who have the autonomy to implement the new mandate.
The ONTC mandate states:
Our mandate is to provide efficient transportation and telecommunications services in Northern Ontario as directed by the Government of Ontario, through the Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry:
a) To support and promote, through the services delivered by Ontario Northland, Northeastern Ontario economic development, job creation and community sustainability;
b) Through its services, to support, promote and enhance linkages and clustering between communities within the region and between Northeastern Ontario and other regions;
c) To deliver price-competitive transportation and telecommunications services that are safe, reliable and responsive to customers, residents and businesses in Northeastern Ontario; and
d) To deliver services in a financially efficient and effective manner with an objective of improved cost recovery and self-sustainability.
Metrolinx Mandate states:
Duties of Corporation re leadership in transportation integration
6.(1) In carrying out its objects as described in clause 5 (1) (a), the Corporation shall,
(a) develop and adopt a transportation plan for the regional transportation area and plan, co-ordinate and set priorities for its implementation;
(b) fund, or arrange and manage the funding for, integrated transportation across the regional transportation area;
(c) promote and facilitate co-ordinated decision-making and investment in the regional transportation area among the governments of the municipalities in the regional transportation area and the federal and provincial governments in order to ensure the efficient and cost-effective resolution of matters of shared concern respecting transportation, including,
(i) the provision and the optimal use and location of transportation infrastructure, including highway and transit infrastructure,
(ii) the integration of transportation infrastructure, including highway and transit infrastructure, and
(iii) the integration of routes, fares and schedules of the regional transit system and of local transit systems in the regional transportation area; and
(d) promote the safety, efficiency and protection of transportation corridors.
(e) Repealed: 2009, c. 14, s. 6 (4).
